US9578415B1 - Hybrid adaptive noise cancellation system with filtered error microphone signal - Google Patents

Abstract

In accordance with systems and methods of the present disclosure, an adaptive noise cancellation system may include an alignment filter configured to correct misalignment of a reference microphone signal and an error microphone signal by generating a misalignment correction signal.

Description

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates in general to adaptive noise cancellation in connection with an acoustic transducer, and more particularly, to a hybrid adaptive noise cancellation system with a filtered error microphone signal to correct for misalignment between a reference microphone signal and an error microphone signal caused by a feedback filter of the hybrid adaptive noise cancellation system.

BACKGROUND

Wireless telephones, such as mobile/cellular telephones, cordless telephones, and other consumer audio devices, such as mp3 players, are in widespread use. Performance of such devices with respect to intelligibility can be improved by providing noise canceling using a microphone to measure ambient acoustic events and then using signal processing to insert an anti-noise signal into the output of the device to cancel the ambient acoustic events.

In many noise cancellation systems, it is desirable to include both feedforward noise cancellation by using a feedforward adaptive filter for generating a feedforward anti-noise signal from a reference microphone signal configured to measure ambient sounds and feedback noise cancellation by using a fixed-response feedback filter for generating a feedback noise cancellation signal to be combined with the feedforward anti-noise signal. However, using traditional approaches, when a gain of the feedback path is strong, the response of the feedforward adaptive filter may diverge, thus rendering the adaptive system unstable.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure, the disadvantages and problems associated with instability of existing approaches for implementing hybrid adaptive noise cancellation may be reduced or eliminated.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a integrated circuit for implementing at least a portion of a personal audio device may include an output for providing a signal to a transducer including both a source audio signal for playback to a listener and an anti-noise signal for countering the effect of ambient audio sounds in an acoustic output of the transducer, a reference microphone input for receiving a reference microphone signal indicative of the ambient audio sounds, an error microphone input for receiving an error microphone signal indicative of the output of the transducer and the ambient audio sounds at the transducer; and a processing circuit. The processing circuit may implement a feedforward filter having a response that generates at least a portion of the anti-noise signal from the reference microphone signal, a secondary path estimate filter configured to model an electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal and have a response that generates a secondary path estimate from the source audio signal, a feedback filter having a response that generates at least a portion of the anti-noise signal based on the error microphone signal, an alignment filter configured to correct misalignment of the reference microphone signal and error microphone signal by generating a misalignment correction signal; a feedforward coefficient control block that shapes the response of the feedforward filter by adapting the response of the feedforward filter to minimize the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal; and a secondary path coefficient control block that shapes the response of the secondary path estimate filter in conformity with the source audio signal and the misalignment correction signal in order to minimize the misalignment correction signal.

In accordance with these and other embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for canceling ambient audio sounds in the proximity of a transducer of a personal audio device may include receiving a reference microphone signal indicative of the ambient audio sounds, receiving an error microphone signal indicative of the output of the transducer and the ambient audio sounds at the transducer, generating a source audio signal for playback to a listener, generating a feedforward anti-noise signal component from the reference microphone signal by adapting a response of an adaptive filter that filters the reference microphone signal to minimize the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal, generating a feedback anti-noise signal component based on the error microphone signal for countering the effects of ambient audio sounds at an acoustic output of the transducer, generating a misalignment correction signal to correct misalignment of the reference microphone signal and error microphone signal, generating the secondary path estimate from the source audio signal by adapting a response of a secondary path estimate filter that models an electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal and filters the source audio signal to minimize the filtered playback corrected error, and combining the feedforward anti-noise signal component and the feedback anti-noise signal component with a source audio signal to generate an audio signal provided to the transducer.

In accordance with these and other embodiments of the present disclosure, an integrated circuit for implementing at least a portion of a personal audio device may include an output for providing a signal to a transducer including both a source audio signal for playback to a listener and an anti-noise signal for countering the effect of ambient audio sounds in an acoustic output of the transducer, a reference microphone input for receiving a reference microphone signal indicative of the ambient audio sounds, an error microphone input for receiving an error microphone signal indicative of the output of the transducer and the ambient audio sounds at the transducer, a noise input for receiving an injected, substantially inaudible noise signal, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit may implement a feedforward filter having a response that generates at least a portion of the anti-noise signal from the reference microphone signal, a secondary path estimate filter configured to model an electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal and have a response that generates a secondary path estimate from the source audio signal, a feedback filter having a response that generates at least a portion of the anti-noise signal based on the error microphone signal, an effective secondary estimate filter configured to model an electro-acoustic path of the anti-noise signal and have a response that generates the filtered noise signal from the noise signal, a feedforward coefficient control block that shapes the response of the feedforward filter in conformity with the error microphone signal and the reference microphone signal by adapting the response of the feedforward filter to minimize the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal, a secondary path coefficient control block that shapes the response of the effective secondary path estimate filter in conformity with the noise signal and the error microphone signal in order to minimize the playback corrected error, and a secondary estimate construction block that generates the response of the secondary estimate filter from the response of the effective secondary estimate filter.

In accordance with these and other embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for canceling ambient audio sounds in the proximity of a transducer of a personal audio device may include receiving a reference microphone signal indicative of the ambient audio sounds, receiving an error microphone signal indicative of an output of the transducer and the ambient audio sounds at the transducer, generating a source audio signal for playback to a listener, generating a feedforward anti-noise signal component from the reference microphone signal by adapting a response of an adaptive filter that filters the reference microphone signal to minimize the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal, generating a feedback anti-noise signal component based on the error microphone signal, generating the filtered noise signal from a noise signal by adapting a response of an effective secondary path estimate filter that models an electro-acoustic path of the anti-noise signal and filters the noise signal to minimize the error microphone signal, generating the secondary path estimate from the source audio signal by applying a response of a secondary path estimate filter wherein the response of the secondary estimate filter is generated from the response of the effective secondary estimate filter, and combining the feedforward anti-noise signal component and the feedback anti-noise signal component with a source audio signal to generate an audio signal provided to the transducer.

Technical advantages of the present disclosure may be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the figures, description and claims included herein. The objects and advantages of the embodiments will be realized and achieved at least by the elements, features, and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are examples and explanatory and are not restrictive of the claims set forth in this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present embodiments and advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1A is an illustration of an example wireless mobile telephone, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1B is an illustration of an example wireless mobile telephone with a headphone assembly coupled thereto, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of selected circuits within the wireless telephone depicted inFIG. 1A, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 3A-3D are each a block diagram depicting selected signal processing circuits and functional blocks within an example active noise canceling (ANC) circuit of a coder-decoder (CODEC) integrated circuit ofFIG. 2, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting selected signal processing circuits and functional blocks within an example active noise canceling (ANC) circuit of a coder-decoder (CODEC) integrated circuit ofFIG. 2, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure encompasses noise canceling techniques and circuits that can be implemented in a personal audio device, such as a wireless telephone. The personal audio device includes an ANC circuit that may measure the ambient acoustic environment and generate a signal that is injected in the speaker (or other transducer) output to cancel ambient acoustic events. A reference microphone may be provided to measure the ambient acoustic environment, and an error microphone may be included for controlling the adaptation of the anti-noise signal to cancel the ambient audio sounds and for correcting for the electro-acoustic path from the output of the processing circuit through the transducer.

Referring now toFIG. 1A, awireless telephone10 as illustrated in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure is shown in proximity to ahuman ear5.Wireless telephone10 is an example of a device in which techniques in accordance with embodiments of the invention may be employed, but it is understood that not all of the elements or configurations embodied in illustratedwireless telephone10, or in the circuits depicted in subsequent illustrations, are required in order to practice the invention recited in the claims.Wireless telephone10 may include a transducer, such as speaker SPKR, that reproduces distant speech received bywireless telephone10, along with other local audio events such as ringtones, stored audio program material, injection of near-end speech (i.e., the speech of the user of wireless telephone10) to provide a balanced conversational perception, and other audio that requires reproduction bywireless telephone10, such as sources from webpages or other network communications received bywireless telephone10 and audio indications such as a low battery indication and other system event notifications. A near-speech microphone NS may be provided to capture near-end speech, which is transmitted fromwireless telephone10 to the other conversation participant(s).

Wireless telephone10 may include ANC circuits and features that inject an anti-noise signal into speaker SPKR to improve intelligibility of the distant speech and other audio reproduced by speaker SPKR. A reference microphone R may be provided for measuring the ambient acoustic environment, and may be positioned away from the typical position of a user's mouth, so that the near-end speech may be minimized in the signal produced by reference microphone R. Another microphone, error microphone E, may be provided in order to further improve the ANC operation by providing a measure of the ambient audio combined with the audio reproduced by speaker SPKR close toear5, whenwireless telephone10 is in close proximity toear5. In different embodiments, additional reference and/or error microphones may be employed.Circuit14 withinwireless telephone10 may include an audio CODEC integrated circuit (IC)20 that receives the signals from reference microphone R, near-speech microphone NS, and error microphone E and interfaces with other integrated circuits such as a radio-frequency (RF) integratedcircuit12 having a wireless telephone transceiver. In some embodiments of the disclosure, the circuits and techniques disclosed herein may be incorporated in a single integrated circuit that includes control circuits and other functionality for implementing the entirety of the personal audio device, such as an MP3 player-on-a-chip integrated circuit. In these and other embodiments, the circuits and techniques disclosed herein may be implemented partially or fully in software and/or firmware embodied in computer-readable media and executable by a controller or other processing device.

In general, ANC techniques of the present disclosure measure ambient acoustic events (as opposed to the output of speaker SPKR and/or the near-end speech) impinging on reference microphone R, and by also measuring the same ambient acoustic events impinging on error microphone E, ANC processing circuits ofwireless telephone10 adapt an anti-noise signal generated from the output of reference microphone R to have a characteristic that minimizes the amplitude of the ambient acoustic events at error microphone E. Because acoustic path P(z) extends from reference microphone R to error microphone E, ANC circuits are effectively estimating acoustic path P(z) while removing effects of an electro-acoustic path S(z) that represents the response of the audio output circuits of CODEC IC20 and the acoustic/electric transfer function of speaker SPKR including the coupling between speaker SPKR and error microphone E in the particular acoustic environment, which may be affected by the proximity and structure ofear5 and other physical objects and human head structures that may be in proximity towireless telephone10, whenwireless telephone10 is not firmly pressed toear5. While the illustratedwireless telephone10 includes a two-microphone ANC system with a third near-speech microphone NS, some aspects of the present invention may be practiced in a system that does not include separate error and reference microphones, or a wireless telephone that uses near-speech microphone NS to perform the function of the reference microphone R. Also, in personal audio devices designed only for audio playback, near-speech microphone NS will generally not be included, and the near-speech signal paths in the circuits described in further detail below may be omitted, without changing the scope of the disclosure, other than to limit the options provided for input to the microphone covering detection schemes.

Referring now toFIG. 1B,wireless telephone10 is depicted having aheadphone assembly13 coupled to it viaaudio port15.Audio port15 may be communicatively coupled to RF integratedcircuit12 and/or CODEC IC20, thus permitting communication between components ofheadphone assembly13 and one or more of RF integratedcircuit12 and/orCODEC IC20. As shown inFIG. 1B,headphone assembly13 may include acombox16, aleft headphone18A, and aright headphone18B. As used in this disclosure, the term “headphone” broadly includes any loudspeaker and structure associated therewith that is intended to be mechanically held in place proximate to a listener's ear canal, and includes without limitation earphones, earbuds, and other similar devices. As more specific examples, “headphone,” may refer to intra-concha earphones, supra-concha earphones, and supra-aural earphones.

Combox16 or another portion ofheadphone assembly13 may have a near-speech microphone NS that may capture near-end speech in addition to or in lieu of near-speech microphone NS ofwireless telephone10. In addition, eachheadphone18A,18B may include a transducer, such as speaker SPKR, that reproduces distant speech received bywireless telephone10, along with other local audio events such as ringtones, stored audio program material, injection of near-end speech (i.e., the speech of the user of wireless telephone10) to provide a balanced conversational perception, and other audio that requires reproduction bywireless telephone10, such as sources from webpages or other network communications received bywireless telephone10 and audio indications, such as a low battery indication and other system event notifications. Eachheadphone18A,18B may include a reference microphone R for measuring the ambient acoustic environment and an error microphone E for measuring of the ambient audio combined with the audio reproduced by speaker SPKR close a listener's ear whensuch headphone18A,18B is engaged with the listener's ear. In some embodiments, CODEC IC20 may receive the signals from reference microphone R, near-speech microphone NS, and error microphone E of each headphone and perform adaptive noise cancellation for each headphone as described herein. In other embodiments, a CODEC IC or another circuit may be present withinheadphone assembly13, communicatively coupled to reference microphone R, near-speech microphone NS, and error microphone E, and configured to perform adaptive noise cancellation as described herein.

Referring now toFIG. 2, selected circuits withinwireless telephone10 are shown in a block diagram. CODEC IC20 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC)21A for receiving the reference microphone signal and generating a digital representation ref of the reference microphone signal, anADC21B for receiving the error microphone signal and generating a digital representation err of the error microphone signal, and anADC21C for receiving the near speech microphone signal and generating a digital representation ns of the near speech microphone signal. CODEC IC20 may generate an output for driving speaker SPKR from an amplifier A1, which may amplify the output of a digital-to-analog converter (DAC)23 that receives the output of acombiner26.Combiner26 may combine audio signals is frominternal audio sources24, the anti-noise signal generated by ANCcircuit30, which by convention has the same polarity as the noise in reference microphone signal ref and is therefore subtracted by combiner26, and a portion of near speech microphone signal ns so that the user ofwireless telephone10 may hear his or her own voice in proper relation to downlink speech ds, which may be received from radio frequency (RF) integratedcircuit22 and may also be combined by combiner26. Near speech microphone signal ns may also be provided to RF integratedcircuit22 and may be transmitted as uplink speech to the service provider via antenna ANT. In some embodiments,combiner26 may also combine a substantially inaudible noise signal nsp (e.g., a noise signal with low magnitude and/or in frequency ranges outside the audible band) generated from anoise source28.

Referring now toFIG. 3A, details ofANC circuit30A are shown in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.ANC circuit30A may be used in some embodiments to implementANC circuit30 depicted inFIG. 2. As shown inFIG. 3A,adaptive filter32 may receive reference microphone signal ref and under ideal circumstances, may adapt its transfer function W(z) to be P(z)/S(z) to generate a feedforward anti-noise component of the anti-noise signal, which may be combined bycombiner38 with a feedback anti-noise component of the anti-noise signal (described in greater detail below) to generate an anti-noise signal which in turn may be provided to an output combiner that combines the anti-noise signal with the source audio signal to be reproduced by the transducer, as exemplified bycombiner26 ofFIG. 2. The coefficients ofadaptive filter32 may be controlled by a Wcoefficient control block31 that uses a correlation of signals to determine the response ofadaptive filter32, which generally minimizes the error, in a least-mean squares sense, between those components of reference microphone signal ref present in error microphone signal err. The signals compared by Wcoefficient control block31 may be the reference microphone signal ref as shaped by a copy of an estimate of the response of path S(z) provided byfilter34B and another signal that includes error microphone signal err as shaped by analignment filter42, as described in greater detail below. By transforming reference microphone signal ref with a copy of the estimate of the response of path S(z), response SE_COPY(z), and minimizing the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal,adaptive filter32 may adapt to the desired response of P(z)/S(z). In addition to error microphone signal err, the signal compared to the output offilter34B by Wcoefficient control block31 may include an inverted amount of downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia that has been processed by filter response SE(z), of which response SE_COPY(z) is a copy. By injecting an inverted amount of downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia,adaptive filter32 may be prevented from adapting to the relatively large amount of downlink audio and/or internal audio signal present in error microphone signal err. However, by transforming that inverted copy of downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia with the estimate of the response of path S(z), the downlink audio and/or internal audio that is removed from error microphone signal err should match the expected version of downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia reproduced at error microphone signal err, because the electrical and acoustical path of S(z) is the path taken by downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia to arrive at errormicrophone E. Filter34B may not be an adaptive filter, per se, but may have an adjustable response that is tuned to match the response ofadaptive filter34A, so that the response offilter34B tracks the adapting ofadaptive filter34A.

To implement the above,adaptive filter34A may have coefficients controlled by SEcoefficient control block33, which may compare downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia and error microphone signal err after removal of the above-described filtered downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia, that has been filtered byadaptive filter34A to represent the expected downlink audio delivered to error microphone E, and which is removed from the output ofadaptive filter34A by acombiner36 to generate a playback-corrected error (shown as PBCE inFIG. 3A) which may be filtered byalignment filter42 to generate a misalignment correction signal, which may comprise a filtered playback-corrected error, as described in greater detail below. SEcoefficient control block33 may correlate the actual downlink speech signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia with the components of downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia that are present in error microphone signal err.Adaptive filter34A may thereby be adapted to generate a signal from downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia, that when subtracted from error microphone signal err, contains the content of error microphone signal err that is not due to downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia.

As depicted inFIG. 3A,ANC circuit30 may also comprisefeedback filter44.Feedback filter44 may receive the playback corrected error signal PBCE and may apply a response H(z) to generate a feedback anti-noise component of the anti-noise signal based on the playback corrected error which may be combined bycombiner38 with the feedforward anti-noise component of the anti-noise signal to generate the anti-noise signal which in turn may be provided to an output combiner that combines the anti-noise signal with the source audio signal to be reproduced by the transducer, as exemplified bycombiner26 ofFIG. 2.

As mentioned above,ANC circuit30A may also include analignment filter42. In the presence offeedback filter44, an effective secondary path S_eff(z) foradaptive filter32 may be given by S_eff(z)=S(z)/[1+H(z)S(z)], and a playback-corrected error PBCE_FB(z) withfeedback filter44 present (e.g., H(z)≠0) may be different than a playback-corrected error signal PBCE(z) withoutfeedback filter44 present (e.g., H(z)=0), as may be given by Err_FB=Err(z)/[1+H(z)S(z)]. Accordingly, in the absence of alignment filter42 (e.g., if playback corrected error PBCE was not filtered byalignment filter42 and was fed directly intoW coefficient control31 and SE coefficient control33), the reference microphone signal ref and the playback corrected error PBCE may not be aligned, but may differ by a phase angle of 1/[1+H(z)S(z)]. Thus,alignment filter42 may be configured to correct such misalignment of reference microphone signal ref, error microphone signal err, the source audio signal, and the playback-corrected error by generating a filtered playback-corrected error (shown as “filtered PB CE” inFIG. 3A) from playback-corrected error PBCE. As shown inFIG. 3A,alignment filter42 may have a response given by 1+SE(z)H(z).

Referring now toFIG. 3B, details ofANC circuit30B are shown in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.ANC circuit30B may be used in some embodiments to implementANC circuit30 depicted inFIG. 2.ANC circuit30B may be similar in many respects toANC circuit30A, thus only the differences betweenANC circuit30B andANC circuit30A are discussed.

As depicted inFIG. 3B, a path of the feedback anti-noise component may have aprogrammable gain element46 with a programmable gain G, such that an increased gain G will cause increased noise cancellation of the feedback anti-noise component, and decreasing the gain G will cause reduced noise cancellation of the feedback anti-noise component. Althoughfeedback filter44 andgain element46 are shown as separate components ofANC circuit30B, in some embodiments some structure and/or function offeedback filter44 andgain element46 may be combined. For example, in some of such embodiments, an effective gain offeedback filter44 may be varied via control of one or more filter coefficients offeedback filter44.

In addition, inANC circuit30B, analignment filter42B may be implemented in place ofalignment filter42 ofANC circuit30A, such thatalignment filter42B may have aresponse 1+SE(z)H(z)G that accounts for any misalignment between reference microphone signal ref and error microphone signal err caused byfeedback filter44 andprogrammable gain element46 that would be introduced intoANC circuit30B ifalignment filter42B were not present (e.g., if playback corrected error PBCE was not filtered byalignment error42 and was fed directly intoW coefficient control31 and SE coefficient control33).

As shown inFIG. 3B,ANC circuit30 may also comprise secondary path estimate performance monitor48. Secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may comprise any system, device, or apparatus configured to give an indication of how efficiently secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A is modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal over various frequencies, as determined by the efficiency by which secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A causescombiner36 to remove the source audio signal from the error microphone signal in generating the playback-corrected error over various frequencies.

Responsive to a determination by a secondary path estimate performance monitor48 that secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A is not sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may controlgain element46 andalignment filter42B to reduce gain G, and then increase gain G when secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A is sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path. Thus, when secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A is not well-trained, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may reduce gain G and train secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A. Once secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A is well-trained, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may increase gain G and then update secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A and/oradaptive filter32.

To determine whether or not secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A is not sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may calculate a secondary index performance index (SEPI) defined as:

$\mathrm{SEPI}=\sum _{i=k}^n\mathrm{SE}\left(i\right)$
where k represents a first coefficient tap of secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A and n represents a second coefficient tap of secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A. In some embodiments, the coefficient taps will comprise the coefficient taps representing the longest delay elements of a finite impulse response filter that implements secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A. For example, in a 256-coefficient filter, k may equal 128 and n may equal 256. Once calculated, the value of SEPI may be compared to one or more threshold values to determine if secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A is sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal. If the SEPI value is below such a threshold, secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A may be determined to be sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal

Referring now toFIG. 3C, details of ANC circuit30C are shown in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. ANC circuit30C may be used in some embodiments to implementANC circuit30 depicted inFIG. 2. ANC circuit30C may be similar in many respects toANC circuit30B, thus only the differences between ANC circuit30C andANC circuit30B are discussed.

As shown inFIG. 3C,alignment filter42C may be used in lieu ofalignment filter42B shown inFIG. 3B, wherein the difference is thatalignment filter42C may apply aresponse 1+SE_G(z)H(z)G, which represents a previously-stored known-good response of secondary path estimateadaptive filter34A existing at a time when, as determined by secondary path estimate performance monitor48, secondary path estimatefilter34A was sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal. In addition,filter34B may be replaced by afilter52 having a response SE_G(z).

In operation, when secondary path estimate performance monitor48 determines that secondary path estimatefilter34A is sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may cause the response SE_G(z) to be updated with the response SE(z) on a periodic basis. On the other hand, when secondary path estimate performance monitor48 determines that secondary path estimatefilter34A is not sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may freeze the update of SE_G(z). In some embodiments, whenever the response SE_G(z) is to be updated, smoothing or cross-fading may be applied to transition the response SE_G(z) from its current response to its updated response.

In addition, in some embodiments, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may update response SE_G(z) at an update frequency dependent upon a value of SEPI. For example, if SEPI is below a first threshold value, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may cause response SE_G(z) to update at a first update frequency. If SEPI is above the first threshold value but below a second threshold value, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may cause response SE_G(z) to update at a second update frequency which is lesser than the first update frequency. If SEPI is above the second threshold value, secondary path estimate performance monitor48 may cause response SE_G(z) to cease updating.

Referring now toFIG. 3D, details ofANC circuit30D are shown in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.ANC circuit30D may be used in some embodiments to implementANC circuit30 depicted inFIG. 2.ANC circuit30D may be similar in many respects toANC circuit30A, thus only the differences betweenANC circuit30D andANC circuit30A are discussed.

As depicted inFIG. 3D, instead of SEcoefficient control block33 adaptively updating response SE(z) based on a correlation between a source audio signal (e.g., downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal ia) and the filtered playback corrected error as shown inFIG. 3A, acombiner39 may combine the source audio signal ds/ia with the feedback anti-noise to generate a modified source audio signal that is communicated to SEcoefficient control block33 such that SEcoefficient control block33 adaptively updates response SE(z) based on a correlation between the modified source audio signal and the filtered playback corrected error. The modified source audio signal (ds/ia)_modmay be given by the equation:

${\left(\mathrm{ds}/\mathrm{ia}\right)}_{\mathrm{mod}}=\left(\mathrm{ds}/\mathrm{ia}\right)\frac{1+H\left(z\right)\mathrm{SE}\left(z\right)}{1+H\left(z\right)S\left(z\right)}$
Thus, if secondary response SE(z) closely tracks the actual secondary response S(z), then the modified source audio signal will approximately equal the unmodified source audio signal.

The approach set forth inFIG. 3D may be used in lieu of adjusting gain G as shown inFIGS. 3B and 3C. The approach set forth inFIG. 3D may guarantee phase alignment between reference microphone signal ref and error microphone signal err for thesecondary estimate filter34A, which may in turn assure convergence of the response SE(z) for small step sizes. However, the response SE(z) may be a biased estimation of response S(z) when the signal-to-noise ratio ofANC circuit30D is low. Accordingly, the approach set forth inFIG. 3D may be best suited for when signal-to-noise ratio is high.

Referring now toFIG. 4, details ofANC circuit30E are shown in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.ANC circuit30E may be used in some embodiments to implementANC circuit30 depicted inFIG. 2. As shown inFIG. 4,adaptive filter32 may receive reference microphone signal ref and under ideal circumstances, may adapt its transfer function W(z) to be P(z)/S(z) to generate a feedforward anti-noise component of the anti-noise signal, which may be combined bycombiner38 with a feedback anti-noise component of the anti-noise signal (described in greater detail below) to generate an anti-noise signal which in turn may be provided to an output combiner that combines the anti-noise signal with the source audio signal to be reproduced by the transducer, as exemplified bycombiner26 ofFIG. 2. Therefore, response W(z) may be adapted to P(z)/S_eff(z) due to the existence offeedback filter44. The coefficients ofadaptive filter32 may be controlled by a Wcoefficient control block31 that uses a correlation of signals to determine the response ofadaptive filter32, which generally minimizes the error, in a least-mean squares sense, between those components of reference microphone signal ref present in error microphone signal err. The signals compared by Wcoefficient control block31 may be the reference microphone signal ref as shaped by a copy of an estimate of the response of path S(z) provided byfilter54B and another signal that includes a playback corrected error signal PBCE which is generated from error microphone signal err. As described previously, an effective secondary path S_eff(z) foradaptive filter32 may be given by S_eff(z)=S(z)/[1+H(z)S(z)], and the response offilter54B may be SE_{eff_copy}(z), which is a copy of a response S_eff(z) of an adaptive effectivesecondary estimate filter54A, which is described in greater detail below.

By transforming reference microphone signal ref with a copy of the estimate of the effective response of path S(z), response SE_{eff_COPY}(z), and minimizing the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal,adaptive filter32 may adapt to the desired response of P(z)/S_eff(z). In addition to error microphone signal err, the signal compared to the output offilter34B by Wcoefficient control block31 may include an inverted amount of downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal is that has been processed by a filter response SE(z).Filter54B may not be an adaptive filter, per se, but may have an adjustable response that is tuned to match the response ofadaptive filter54A, so that the response offilter54B tracks the adapting ofadaptive filter54A.

To implement the above,adaptive filter54A may have coefficients controlled by SEcoefficient control block33B, which may compare an injected, substantially inaudible noise signal nsp and error microphone signal err after removal bycombiner37 of noise signal nsp that has been filtered byadaptive filter54A having response SE(z) to represent the expected noise signal nsp delivered to error microphone E. Thus, SEcoefficient control block33B may correlate the noise signal nsp with the components of noise signal nsp that are present in error microphone signal err in order to generate response SE_eff(z) ofadaptive filter54A to minimize the error microphone signal.

Downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal may be filtered bysecondary estimate filter34A having response SE(z). The filtered downlink audio signal ds and/or internal audio signal may be subtracted from error signal err by acombiner36 to generate a playback-corrected error (shown as PBCE inFIG. 4).

Furthermore, in order to generate response SE(z) ofadaptive filter34A, anSE construction block58 may determine response SE(z) from response SE_eff(z). For example,SE construction block58 may calculate response SE(z) in accordance with the following equation:

$\mathrm{SE}\left(z\right)=\frac{{\mathrm{SE}}_{\mathrm{eff}}\left(z\right)}{1-H\left(z\right){\mathrm{SE}}_{\mathrm{eff}}\left(z\right)}$
For example, in order to implement a filter that has a response as in the foregoing equation, one may construct a finite impulse response filter directly using the frequency response of terms on the right side of the equation. As another example, one may construct a filter with such a response using several finite impulse response and/or infinite impulse response blocks.

This disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Similarly, where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Moreover, reference in the appended claims to an apparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system, or component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, or operative.

All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical objects to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Although embodiments of the present inventions have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

Claims (32)

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated circuit for implementing at least a portion of a personal audio device, comprising:

an output for providing a signal to a transducer including both a source audio signal for playback to a listener and an anti-noise signal for countering an effect of ambient audio sounds in an acoustic output of the transducer;

a reference microphone input for receiving a reference microphone signal indicative of the ambient audio sounds;

an error microphone input for receiving an error microphone signal indicative of the output of the transducer and the ambient audio sounds at the transducer; and

a processing circuit that implements:

a feedforward filter having a response that generates at least a portion of the anti-noise signal from the reference microphone signal;

a secondary path estimate filter configured to model an electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal and have a response that generates a secondary path estimate from the source audio signal;

a feedback filter having a response that generates at least a portion of the anti-noise signal based on the error microphone signal;

an alignment filter configured to correct misalignment of the reference microphone signal and error microphone signal by generating a misalignment correction signal;

a feedforward coefficient control block that shapes the response of the feedforward filter by adapting the response of the feedforward filter to minimize the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal; and

a secondary path coefficient control block that shapes the response of the secondary path estimate filter in conformity with the source audio signal and the misalignment correction signal in order to minimize the misalignment correction signal.

2. The integrated circuit ofclaim 1, wherein the response of the feedback filter generates at least the portion of the anti-noise signal from a playback corrected error, the playback corrected error based on a difference between the error microphone signal and the secondary path estimate.

3. The integrated circuit ofclaim 2, wherein the misalignment correction signal comprises a filtered playback corrected error generated from the playback corrected error.

4. The integrated circuit ofclaim 3, wherein the feedforward control block shapes the response of the feedforward filter in conformity with the filtered playback corrected error and the reference microphone signal.

5. The integrated circuit ofclaim 1, wherein the alignment filter has a response given by 1+SE(z)H(z), where SE(z) is the response of the secondary path estimate filter and H(z) is the response of the feedback filter.

6. The integrated circuit ofclaim 1, wherein the processing circuit further implements a gain associated with the feedback filter.

7. The integrated circuit ofclaim 6, wherein the processing circuit further implements a secondary path estimate performance monitor for monitoring performance of the secondary path estimate filter in modeling the electro-acoustic path.

8. The integrated circuit ofclaim 7, wherein the processing circuit controls the gain responsive to the secondary path estimate performance monitor.

9. The integrated circuit ofclaim 8, wherein the alignment filter has a response given by 1+SE(z)H(z)G, where SE(z) is the response of the secondary path estimate filter, H(z) is the response of the feedback filter, and G is the gain.

10. The integrated circuit ofclaim 8, wherein the alignment filter has a response given by 1+SE_G(z)H(z)G, where SE_G(z) is a previously-stored response of the secondary path estimate filter existing at a time when, as determined by the secondary path estimate performance monitor, the secondary path estimate filter was sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal, H(z) is the response of the feedback filter, and G is the gain.

11. The integrated circuit ofclaim 10, wherein the secondary path estimate performance monitor updates the stored response SE_G(z) at an update frequency dependent upon a degree of which the secondary path estimate filter is sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal.

12. The integrated circuit ofclaim 10, wherein a filter having a response substantially equivalent to SE_G(z) is applied to the reference microphone signal to generate a filtered reference microphone signal communicated to the feedforward coefficient control block.

13. The integrated circuit ofclaim 1, wherein the secondary path coefficient control block shapes the response of the secondary path estimate filter by correlating the misalignment correction signal and a modified source audio signal in order to minimize the misalignment correction signal, wherein the modified source audio signal comprises the sum of the source audio signal and a portion of the anti-noise signal generated by the feedback filter.

14. A method for canceling ambient audio sounds in a proximity of a transducer of a personal audio device, the method comprising:

receiving a reference microphone signal indicative of the ambient audio sounds;

receiving an error microphone signal indicative of the output of the transducer and the ambient audio sounds at the transducer;

generating a source audio signal for playback to a listener;

generating a feedforward anti-noise signal component from the reference microphone signal by adapting a response of an adaptive filter that filters the reference microphone signal to minimize the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal;

generating a feedback anti-noise signal component based on the error microphone signal, for countering the effects of ambient audio sounds at an acoustic output of the transducer;

generating a misalignment correction signal to correct misalignment of the reference microphone signal and error microphone signal;

generating the secondary path estimate from the source audio signal by adapting a response of a secondary path estimate filter that models an electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal and filters the source audio signal to minimize the filtered playback corrected error; and

combining the feedforward anti-noise signal component and the feedback anti-noise signal component with a source audio signal to generate an audio signal provided to the transducer.

15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein generating the feedback anti-noise signal component comprises filtering a playback corrected error with a feedback filter, the playback corrected error based on a difference between the error microphone signal and a secondary path estimate.

16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein generating the misalignment correction signal comprises generating a filtered playback corrected error from the playback corrected error.

17. The method ofclaim 16, wherein adapting the response of an adaptive filter that filters the reference microphone signal comprises shaping the response of the adaptive filter in conformity with the filtered playback corrected error and the reference microphone signal.

18. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the alignment filter has a response given by 1+SE(z)H(z), where SE(z) is the response of the secondary path estimate filter and H(z) is the response of the feedback filter.

19. The method ofclaim 14, further comprising applying a gain associated with the feedback filter.

20. The method ofclaim 19, further comprising monitoring with a secondary path estimate performance to monitor performance of the secondary path estimate filter in modeling the electro-acoustic path.

21. The method ofclaim 20, further comprising controlling a gain of the gain element responsive to the secondary path estimate performance monitor.

22. The method ofclaim 20, wherein the alignment filter has a response given by 1+SE(z)H(z)G, where SE(z) is the response of the secondary path estimate filter, H(z) is the response of the feedback filter, and G is the gain.

23. The method ofclaim 20, wherein the alignment filter has a response given by 1+SE_G(z)H(z)G, where SE_G(z) is a previously-stored response of the secondary path estimate filter existing at a time when, as determined by the secondary path estimate performance monitor, the secondary path estimate filter was sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal, H(z) is the response of the feedback filter, and G is the gain.

24. The method ofclaim 23, further comprising updating the stored response SE_G(z) at an update frequency dependent upon a degree of which the secondary path estimate filter is sufficiently modeling the electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal.

25. The method ofclaim 23, further comprising applying a filter having a response substantially equivalent to SE_G(z) to the reference microphone signal to generate a filtered reference microphone signal communicated to the feedforward coefficient control block.

26. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the secondary path coefficient control block shapes the response of the secondary path estimate filter by correlating the misalignment correction signal and a modified source audio signal in order to minimize the misalignment correction signal, wherein the modified source audio signal comprises the sum of the source audio signal and a portion of the anti-noise signal generated by the feedback filter.

27. An integrated circuit for implementing at least a portion of a personal audio device, comprising:

an output for providing a signal to a transducer including both a source audio signal for playback to a listener and an anti-noise signal for countering an effect of ambient audio sounds in an acoustic output of the transducer;

a reference microphone input for receiving a reference microphone signal indicative of the ambient audio sounds;

an error microphone input for receiving an error microphone signal indicative of the output of the transducer and the ambient audio sounds at the transducer;

a noise input for receiving an injected, substantially inaudible noise signal; and

a processing circuit that implements:

a feedforward filter having a response that generates at least a portion of the anti-noise signal from the reference microphone signal;

a secondary path estimate filter configured to model an electro-acoustic path of the source audio signal and have a response that generates a secondary path estimate from the source audio signal;

a feedback filter having a response that generates at least a portion of the anti-noise signal based on the error microphone signal;

an effective secondary estimate filter configured to model an electro-acoustic path of the anti-noise signal and have a response that generates a filtered noise signal from the noise signal;

a feedforward coefficient control block that shapes the response of the feedforward filter in conformity with the error microphone signal and the reference microphone signal by adapting the response of the feedforward filter to minimize the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal;

a secondary path coefficient control block that shapes the response of the effective secondary path estimate filter in conformity with the noise signal and the error microphone signal in order to minimize the error signal; and

a secondary estimate construction block that generates the response of the secondary estimate filter from the response of the effective secondary estimate filter.

28. The integrated circuit ofclaim 27, wherein the secondary estimate construction block generates the response of the secondary estimate filter from the response of the effective secondary estimate filter in accordance with the equation:

$\mathrm{SE}\left(z\right)=\frac{{\mathrm{SE}}_{\mathrm{eff}}\left(z\right)}{1-H\left(z\right){\mathrm{SE}}_{\mathrm{eff}}\left(z\right)}$

where SE(z) is the response of the secondary estimate filter, SE_eff(z) is the response of the effective secondary estimate filter, and H(z) is the response of the feedback filter.

29. The integrated circuit ofclaim 27, wherein the response of the feedback filter generates at least the portion of the anti-noise signal from a playback corrected error, the playback corrected error based on a difference between the error microphone signal and a sum of the secondary path estimate and a filtered noise signal.

30. A method for canceling ambient audio sounds in the proximity of a transducer of a personal audio device, the method comprising:

receiving a reference microphone signal indicative of the ambient audio sounds;

receiving an error microphone signal indicative of an output of the transducer and the ambient audio sounds at the transducer;

generating a source audio signal for playback to a listener;

generating a feedforward anti-noise signal component from the reference microphone signal by adapting a response of an adaptive filter that filters the reference microphone signal to minimize the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone signal;

generating a feedback anti-noise signal component based on the error microphone signal;

generating the filtered noise signal from a noise signal by adapting a response of an effective secondary path estimate filter that models an electro-acoustic path of the anti-noise signal and filters the noise signal to minimize the error microphone signal;

generating the secondary path estimate from the source audio signal by applying a response of a secondary path estimate filter wherein the response of the secondary estimate filter is generated from the response of the effective secondary estimate filter; and

combining the feedforward anti-noise signal component and the feedback anti-noise signal component with a source audio signal to generate an audio signal provided to the transducer.

31. The method ofclaim 30, wherein a secondary estimate construction block generates the response of the secondary estimate filter from the response of the effective secondary estimate filter in accordance with the equation:

$\mathrm{SE}\left(z\right)=\frac{{\mathrm{SE}}_{\mathrm{eff}}\left(z\right)}{1-H\left(z\right){\mathrm{SE}}_{\mathrm{eff}}\left(z\right)}$

where SE(z) is the response of the secondary estimate filter, SE_eff(z) is the response of the effective secondary estimate filter, and H(z) is the response of the feedback filter.

32. The method ofclaim 30, wherein generating the feedback anti-noise signal component comprises filtering a playback corrected error with a feedback filter, the playback corrected error based on a difference between the error microphone signal and a sum of a secondary path estimate and a filtered noise signal.

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